Budget Guidelines

The FRCAC grants are expected to serve as "seed money" to generate preliminary data
for research proposals to be submitted to external granting agencies. It is therefore
crucial the grant seeker provides a compelling case for why FRCAC should award them
the funds. In addition, the applicant must also elucidate the justification for each
item listed in the Budget Page. Starting from August, 2016, the new "Application
Packet" designed by FRCAC will request for the proposed budget and the associated
justification for costs in a single form format.

LIMIT

Faculty may request funding up to approximately $10,000 total.

Synergy grants (Interdiscplinary Grants or Multiple Applicants) may request more but
must be justified adequately.

Funding MUST be used only for the purposes approved by the Committee; changes in
the use of funds must have prior approval.

Except as otherwise noted with respect to the Interdisciplinary Synergy Award, items
that may be fundable are listed below:

Reassigned time (not granted during summer semesters)

Normally no more than three credit hours (one course) of reassigned time per semester
is funded. A fourth hour, such as a class with a lab, must be specifically justified.
Faculty may receive up to two consecutive semesters of reassigned time. Also, faculty may receive up to threesemesters of FRCAC-funded reassigned time every six years.

To ensure that the courses reassigned from one faculty load will continue to be offered,
funds will be payable to the faculty member's department for an adjunct instructor
replacement. The department is responsible for providing any costs greater than those
approved for the grant.

Summer Stipend:

Starting from August, 2016, this stipend structure will replace the previously awarded
“Reassigned Time” and “Summer Salary.” Requests for a stipend can be made in the
Fall as well as the Spring funding cycles. Funding can be requested for either $6,500
(Full Stipend) or $3,250 (Half Stipend). The applicant has to make a clear judgement
on the fund requirements before making a request. The justification can include various
aspects, such as the time commitment, and why the stipend is are essential to complete
the research goals. The funding seeker must also provide details on other commitments
that may influence his/her productivity, teaching and service, while carrying out
the proposed activities. FRCAC will only use the scientific merit or creative value
of the proposal when making its determination and will no longer use the faculty rank
or seniority as a criteria.

This change in pay structure still however follows the same purpose for which the
previous summer salary was funded. In effect, you are being paid this stipid for
undertaking research or engaging in creative activity at a level requiring the same
time commitment as teaching a summer course. One of the ways by which you can determine
the appropriate amount to request, decide how many hours during the summer your project
will require, and then make a request for either "full" or "half" stipend.

Summer Stipend can be requested only by the PI (or Co-PI but not by both) who is/are
hired as a full-time tenure track faculty member at MTSU. Untenured faculty members
may receive up to 4 (FOUR) summer salary stipend grants in total. These may be awarded on four consecutive summers.
Tenured faculty members (regardless of rank) may receive as many as 3 (THREE) summer salary grants in a six year period, as long as they are not within two consecutive
summers. All of the faculty members are limited to 6 (SIX) summer stipends in total. The previously received "summer salaries" also count towards the overall total.

PIs may refer to the chart below to estimate what would be a realistic request for
a summer stipend.

the appropriate percentage of your academic year salary, compute that amount of your
salary and enter on your Budget Page, along with the number of hours you are requesting. (There is also a blank on the
Application Page where number of requested hours only should be entered.) Proposal
development for external funding is not eligible for summer salary support.

Summer Course Equivalency

% Academic Year Salary

3 Credit Hours

FULL

2 Credit Hours

FULL or HALF

1 Credit Hour

HALF

Stupend payments are received by the applicant along with his/her August salary. Please
note that the stipend is subject to applicable federal/state and local taxes and surcharges.
During the period that this award is active, the faculty cannot engage in "overload"
assignments. All sources of university remuneration cannot exceed 25% unless a portion
of the summer activity is sponsored by external funding agencies, in which case the
limit is 33.33%.

Equipment, Supplies and Operations Costs

The FRCAC supports funding equipment that is needed for research. The FRCAC will consider
funding the purchase or rental of any item(s) that cannot be provided by your department
that are necessary to carry out your project. Include a letter from your department
chair stating that departmental funds are unavailable for the proposed purchases or
rental. The committee may decline to fund purchases that can be awarded through other
grants or that are traditionally acquired by the faculty personally. If you are granted
funds to purchase equipment, it should remain the property of MTSU for future departmental
use. Update: Laptops/computers are not considered fundable, necessary items by the FRCAC
committee. Refer to the Application Packet for more details.

Personnel and Student Researchers

The FRCAC will consider funding additional personnel (i.e., a graduate student, or
outside consultant) necessary to complete your project. Dollars for student workers
will be funded ONLY for graduate students and paid through MTSU payroll. Outside consultants
or others providing services will need to submit an invoice to the FRCAC office. Students are paid as "student workers on an hourly wage only! The FRCAC grant does
not pay tuition and "GA" stipends. These are awarded through departments and follow
guidelines within Graduate Studies.

Important Note: Services that will cost over $500 must have a service contract completed before services
are contracted. For more information please contact Janine Brink, Contract Manager,
at ext. 5600. Applicants are urged to help undergraduate collaborators apply for funding through
other funding sources such as, URECA, STEP-MT, McNair, or TLSAMP. All of these programs
and application procedures are available at the Undergraduate Research Center. FRCAC funds will no longer cover assistance to support undergraduate researchers.
Refer to the "budget justification" page of the Application Packet for more details.

Travel Funds

The FRCAC will consider funding travel necessary to carry out your project.

All out of state and out of country travel require completed Travel Authorizations
(with appropriate signatures) submitted with the proposal.

Additionally, when the travel is out of country, a TA must be submitted to Dr. McPhee
30 days prior to travel dates, along with a memo discussing the purpose of the travel,
signed by the applicant, their Dean, and Department Chair. Please send to the attention
of Janice Lewis in CAB 111.

Travel within the state of Tennessee does not require a Travel Authorization.

Travel to conferences or seminars are not eligible for funding.

Meals will not be covered by the applicant may request per diem charges in compliant
with MTSU accounting policies.

For research projects needing microscopy-related services, please remember to add the total hourly fees to the budget estimate. For example,
a project with samples requiring 5 hours of microscopic and elemental analysis would
cost $150 for unassisted use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-dispersive
X-ray (EDX) detector or $250 if the samples are analyzed by the MIMIC Technical Manager
with a complete report of the SEM/EDX results. For more information on fees and facilities
of MIMIC, please visit the website.

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